On June 18, 2010, a 29 year-old contract miner with 6 years of experience was fatally injured at an underground silver mine. The victim was scaling loose ground in a stope when he was struck by falling material approximately 3½ feet long by 2½ feet wide by 2 feet thick.
Best Practices
- Examine, sound, and test for loose ground in areas before starting to work, after blasting, and as ground conditions warrant.
- Train all persons to scale loose material safely.
- Communicate unsafe ground conditions to all affected miners.
- Perform manual scaling from a location which will not expose persons to injury from falling material.
- When manually scaling, use scaling bars of a length and design that will allow the removal of loose material without exposing persons to the risk of injury.
- Install ground support where conditions warrant.
Click here for: MSHA Preliminary Report (pdf), MSHA Investigation Report (pdf), Overview (powerpoint), Overview (pdf), Spanish Fatalgram (pdf)